A warmer house and a brand new outside in one job. We fit the whole EWI system ourselves, from the insulation boards to the final coat of silicone render.
External wall insulation (EWI) is a layer of insulation fixed to the outside of the house, then sealed in with a reinforced basecoat and finished in render. The house is wrapped in insulation, and the outside gets a completely new finish at the same time.
Made for solid walls. A lot of Devon houses have solid brick, block or stone walls with no cavity, so cavity wall insulation is not an option. Solid walls lose far more heat than insulated cavity walls, and EWI is the main way to fix that without losing room inside.
No mess inside. Everything happens on the outside of the house. No ripping out kitchens, no moving radiators, no rooms getting smaller, and you can stay living in the house while we work.
A new exterior thrown in. Tired pebbledash, cracked render or patchy paint disappears under the new system. It finishes in a through-coloured silicone render that never needs painting.
One team, start to finish. We fit the full system ourselves: boards, fixings, mesh, basecoat and top coat. No handing over halfway between an insulation firm and a renderer, and no arguments about whose fault a crack is.
Every layer has a job. Skip one and the whole system suffers, which is why we treat it as one system rather than a render job with boards behind it.
The boards that do the insulating, bonded and mechanically fixed to the wall. The type and thickness are chosen to suit your wall and what you want from it.
Fixings that hold the boards into the wall, plus corner, edge and window beads that keep every line straight and protect the edges.
A basecoat with fibreglass mesh bedded right through it. This is the layer that stops cracks, so it gets the most care.
A through-coloured, water-repellent top coat in the colour you choose. It sheds Devon rain and never needs repainting.
There are three main types of insulation board used in EWI. The right one depends on the wall underneath, and on old Devon houses that choice really matters.
The most common and most affordable board. Light and easy to work, and a good fit for most modern brick and block houses.
Heavier and non-combustible, and more breathable than EPS. Often chosen where fire performance matters or the wall needs to breathe more.
A natural, breathable board that suits older solid walls. Worth considering on cob and stone, where trapping moisture in the wall can cause damp problems.
Got an older cob or stone house? Read cob walls in Devon and damp in old Devon houses first. They explain why breathability matters before you insulate.
From first message to finished wall.
Send a few photos and the rough size over WhatsApp, or we come out and look. We check the walls, talk through the options and give you a fixed price.
Scaffold up, downpipes, lights and fittings taken off, and any loose or blown render dealt with so the boards go onto something sound.
Insulation boards bonded and mechanically fixed across the walls, with the edges around windows and doors insulated so there are no cold spots.
Reinforced basecoat with mesh bedded right through it, beads set true, and sills extended to suit the thicker walls.
Primer and your chosen silicone render colour applied. Fittings and downpipes go back on, scaffold comes down and the site is left tidy.
Every house is different, so every job gets its own fixed price. These are the things that move it.
The area of wall being insulated, and how many elevations. Doing the whole house usually works out better value per square metre.
EPS is the most affordable. Mineral wool and wood fibre cost more but suit some walls better.
Every window, door, sill and corner needs detailing. A house with lots of openings takes longer than a plain gable.
Sound walls go straight to boarding. Failing render or pebbledash that needs taking off first adds time.
Height, access and how long the scaffold stays up all feed into the price.
We look at the job, we give you a number, and that is the number. No day rates, no creeping extras.
Send a photo of the house on WhatsApp and we will tell you what is involved.
External wall insulation, or EWI, is a layer of insulation boards fixed to the outside of your walls, then covered with a reinforced basecoat and a render finish. It wraps the house in insulation without taking any space from inside, and it gives the outside a completely new finish at the same time.
It makes the biggest difference on houses with solid walls, which lose far more heat than cavity walls and cannot have cavity insulation. If your walls are already cavity filled, or the render just needs refreshing, a straight re-render may be the better spend. We will tell you honestly which camp your house is in.
It can, but the system has to be chosen carefully. Old cob and stone walls need to breathe, and the wrong board and render can trap moisture in the wall. On these houses a breathable, vapour-open system matters more than the cheapest one. Have a look at our cob walls guide, and we will talk it through when we see the wall.
Insulating the outside of a house usually counts as building work, so it needs to meet the Building Regulations and be signed off. Planning depends on the house and the council: it is often fine, but conservation areas, listed buildings and anything that changes how the front looks can need permission. Check with your council before work starts, and we can help you work out what to ask.
Because the walls get thicker, window sills are extended, downpipes, satellite dishes and outside lights come off and go back on, and the edges around windows and doors are insulated and finished so there are no cold spots. These details are where EWI jobs go wrong, so we price them in properly from the start.
It depends on the size of the house, the weather and how much preparation the walls need. Each coat needs time to cure, and render cannot go on in heavy rain or frost. We give you a realistic timescale with the quote.
We cover Exeter and the whole of Devon, including Crediton, Tiverton, Exmouth, Newton Abbot, Okehampton, Cullompton and everywhere in between. If your town is not listed, ask anyway.
Covering Exeter and the whole county for external wall insulation and rendering.
Just want a new finish without insulating? See K-Rend silicone render, cork render or our render types compared guide.
Send a few photos of the house over WhatsApp for a fast, fair price, or give us a call.